


That Sunny Boy of Yours

by galacticheroines



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan, The Trials of Apollo - Rick Riordan
Genre: Canon Compliant, Established Relationship, Fluff, Kissing, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-15
Updated: 2020-06-15
Packaged: 2021-03-04 06:55:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,369
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24729319
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/galacticheroines/pseuds/galacticheroines
Summary: Set during The Hidden Oracle. When the Colossus statue attacks camp, Riordan describes Nico and Will as being in the lake, an upturned canoe beside them. What were they doing in that canoe?
Relationships: Nico di Angelo & Will Solace, Nico di Angelo/Will Solace
Comments: 1
Kudos: 135





	That Sunny Boy of Yours

**Author's Note:**

> This is another cute snippet of Nico and Will that's canon-compliant. Enjoy!
> 
> Also, Orange Gatorade is the best, and you can definitely fight me on that.

“Hail to thee, oh Lord of Darkness!” 

Nico barely registered the sound. He was distracted; dodging the swift strokes of the training automaton in front of him, returning when he could get a second to breathe. He had it set to the hardest mode, hero mode—one of Harley’s latest inventions.

So he didn’t quite notice Will as the sunny-haired boy raised his hands up high and hollered from the top of the training stadium. Will grumbled, lowering his hands as his smile vanished, and made his way down the endless steps. Nico continued to slash and strike, grunting with the effort of it all. 

Will reached the bottom step and spread himself down on the bleachers. He lay flat, one hand extended to block the setting sun out of his eyes. “I know you’re worried about this Colossus attacking camp, but don’t you think it’s rather stupid to be expending your energy prematurely?”

Perhaps it was the truth behind Will’s words, or simply that he had moved closer, and therefore within Nico’s range of hearing, but this gave Nico pause. He stopped the slashing. 

The automaton was not that intuitive—it responded with a devastating blow to his midsection, knocking him off balance. He clutched his stomach and fell into the dirt with a stifled groan. 

“Oh gods, Nico!” Will was up in a second, running to his side. “You idiot.” He bent to Nico’s side, but quickly realized that the hit was not as damaging as it had seemed. 

“It’s fine.” Nico muttered. “Only my pride is wounded.” He opened his eyes, staring up at Will’s disapproving face. Always the disapproving face.

There was a distinctly Hermes-esque glint in Will’s eyes. “Hmm…I dunno…maybe I should check that for you.” He leaned over Nico’s body, slowly riding up the boy’s shirt so that the dancing skeletons looked like they were crouching.

The boys dissolved in laughter, Nico blushing furiously and swatting at Will’s hands. He sat up, brushing the dirt from his jeans. 

Only to be tackled to the ground, once more, by Will, narrowly missing the automaton’s next swipe with its blade. Nico mumbled something unflattering in Italian, though it could have been aimed at either the automaton or Will. The latter boy, still on his knees, reached around to the back of the robot and switched it off. Its sword fell to the ground with a resounding clang. 

For the second time, Nico attempted to stand. He helped Will up. “I should probably warn Harley that his machine is going haywire.” 

Will raised an eyebrow. “Or,” he suggested, “you could stop working yourself to death on hero mode.”

Nico crossed his arms. “I’m plenty familiar with death, Solace. Plus,” he now looked like he was suppressing a smile, “I’m kind of a hero.”

“Oh, shut up.” Will extracted Nico’s arms from his chest, reaching for his hand. He slipped his own fingers through Nico’s easily, and began leading him toward the lake. 

Nico only half-resented the physical contact. He had gotten better at it, at people wishing to hug him and touch him good-naturedly, but that didn’t mean he understood it. Will had tried to explain to him on multiple occasions that it was how people expressed that they cared for him. Will, especially, was a very…ah…handsy person. He relied on little touches throughout the day to ground him in the present. 

Nico just wasn’t used to the kind of touches that didn’t come in the form of a fist, or the gentle swipe of a blade. But he was working on it. 

“Where in Hades are you taking me?” He trailed behind his boyfriend. He didn’t need to see Will’s face to know that another insufferable smile was making its way across his features. 

“The lake, dearest. I’m in the mood for a romantic canoe ride as we await an assault from a giant statue. Aren’t you?”

Nico snorted. He disentangled their fingers and caught up with Will, walking beside him in long strides. “That’s ridiculous. Shouldn’t we be helping Chiron organize the defences?”

“Already done.” Will noted, a smug smile on his face. 

“Organize the weaponry?”

“Done.”

“Rally the campers?”

“Also done. Everyone knows. Everyone’s prepared. We don’t even know when to expect this attack. Not much else we can do but wait.” He shrugged. Then his gaze fell on Nico. “Though it’s probably not in our best interests to waste all our energy before the enemy arrives, wouldn’t you say?”

Nico grimaced, realizing just how stupid his pre-fight training had been. Not that he would ever admit such a thing to Solace. Besides, as the two walked toward the lake, they noticed other campers going about their day. Some were picking strawberries in the fields, others were chatting amicably, their weapons strapped to their sides. Nico reasoned that they could probably spare an hour out on the lake, watching the sun set together. 

They reached the docks just as the sun was halfway through its descent. Already, the purples and pinks of the sky had started to show, spreading out as if just for the two of them. Will hopped into the nearest canoe and extended his hand out for Nico. 

Nico rolled his eyes. “How charming.” He spat out, before taking Will’s hand and stepping into the canoe. Will then untied the rope that tethered them and began to paddle their way out to the lake. 

They sat in silence for only a minute. Will was smiling, still, and looking off toward the sun as he usually did, but Nico could tell that something was bothering him. It was not particularly hard for him to guess what could be at fault. He didn’t want to mention it; he had been trained, almost as well as his swords play, not to broach emotions so openly. 

But they weren’t out in the open. They were afforded the privacy of the lake, and Will was one of the only people that Nico depended on. Not just for his company, either, but for his honesty and his kindness (well—when it mattered, at least). He figured he should probably allow Will the same chance. “So,” he began, not really knowing where to go from there. “Apollo’s at camp now.”

Nico had perhaps expected Will not to say anything. Or maybe, if he did say something, he would quickly close the conversation down, finding it too weird and uncomfortable a topic to delve into. Instead—Will laughed. He turned his eyes toward Nico. “Are you…” he narrowed his eyes, “are you trying to get me to talk about my emotions?”

What a mistake. Nico rolled his eyes again. “Forget I mentioned it.”

“No, no. Too late. You care.” He said it like an insult. “You care about how I’m dealing with all this.”

“Idiot.” Nico murmured. 

Another second passed. “It’s strange.” He continued to paddle them out to sea leisurely. “My immortal father looks maybe a year older than me. These past few days are the most I’ve talked to him in…” Another pause. “Well, at all.”

Nico nodded. He sort of regretted starting this conversation now, because he had absolutely no experience with this and didn’t know what to say. Every demigod could relate to an absentee parent. Some more than one. 

The smile from Will’s face was gone. “It feels like the only reason we’re even talking now is because…well…” 

Maybe this was something Nico could relate to. “Because he needs you.” He finished. 

Will shrugged. “Ah, well. It’s not like I’m gonna turn him down. I just hope this plan of his works.”

Nico admired the easy way that Will shrugged off his misgivings about his father. His mind drifted to another blonde he had once known—Luke, who had let his hatred toward his father fester. Nico could sympathize with that, being no stranger to grudges himself, but in the soft face of Will Solace, with the light of the sky illuminating all the blonde bits of his hair, he couldn’t imagine that there was a single resentful thought in his head. 

“I want to say that Apollo won’t forget what you’ve done for him, once he’s restored to being a god, but…” 

Will sighed. “But hey, maybe he won’t forget until after I’m dead and gone.”

“That’s probably the best you can hope for.” He didn’t say that he thought even that was being optimistic, but, well, he had enough experience with the gods to know better. 

“On the plus side,” Will started, and Nico resisted the urge to roll his eyes yet again. He reached his leg out and playfully kicked Nico’s shins. “You met my dad, and he kinda seemed to like you?”

Nico wanted to laugh in his face. Instead, he found his face getting annoyingly hot. “Met your dad? I wouldn’t say—I mean—it’s not like—”

Will burst into laughter, which Nico only found more annoying. The younger boy cleared his throat and tried again. “Apollo was probably too busy thinking of himself to care much about us, Will.”

Again that loose shrug from Will. “Whatever. I’m just saying, you lived through it. That’s a good thing.” 

Nico was about to respond that he wasn’t exactly sure that meant they had his godly father’s blessing, but Will continued: “So have you mentioned me to your dad?”

Nico started. He had told Will a few months ago that he had started to pray to his father, Hades, but he didn’t elaborate on the subject. It was still new to him, and still weird. It’s not like they had daily chats or anything, and besides, Hades rarely responded. “No.” He said, and he was almost sorry he said it, seeing Will’s crestfallen face. 

He corrected himself. “Well, not exactly. He kind of mentioned you to me.”

“What?!” Will’s smile spread, and Nico could still see his perfect gleaming teeth in the rapidly fading light. 

“Oh, save it.” He waved him off. “He just said, ‘the sunny boy you hang around with.’ It was nothing.”

“Sunny boy.” Will repeated, though he didn’t seem offended by the phrase. If anything, he was elated. He cleared his throat and deepened his voice in a poor imitation of Hades. His features became stern, a look that didn’t fit Will’s face. “Listen here, m’boy,” He wagged a finger at Nico. “You take good care of that sunny boy of yours, you hear me?”

Nico tried to hold it in, but he burst into laughter. Will continued, “Don’t let him infect you with his, uh, cheery nature and dazzling good looks. I don’t wanna see any smiles on your face, or I’ll send you to Asphodel!” Will giggled despite himself, ruining the image completely. 

Nico shook his head. “You’re lucky the ground doesn’t open up and swallow you whole for that performance.”

Will spread his arms out, gesturing to the wide open lake around them. “Poseidon’s domain!” He called. 

Nico started clapping while Will did an awkward half-bow in the canoe. “Wonderful, just wonderful.”

Will flashed him another smile. “Can I get a kiss for my performance, Death Boy?”

Nico narrowed his eyes at Will, but the latter boy was already making a show of leaning in…closer…closer..

It was at that moment that the world shook with the weight of a giant statue stomping onto camp grounds, and the two were upturned in their canoe. They fell into the water and resurfaced seconds later. Nico squirted out water from his mouth. He looked wearily in the direction of camp. “We better get back there.”

Will looked equally annoyed. He glanced at Nico. “You owe me a kiss, mister.” 

After getting the canoe back to shore and helping Apollo commandeer the chariot, Nico collapsed in Will’s arms. The effort of shadow-traveling combined with his previous training had caught up to him. Will threw him over his shoulder in a fireman’s hold and ran off to find him some Gatorade. 

Will found some in the infirmary, where they always kept a fridge stocked for this very purpose. He set Nico down gently on the bed and grabbed a bottle. Before returning to Nico’s side, however, he glanced out the window. They’d have to get back to defending the camp, and soon. The statue already looked like it was coming this way, heading for the cabins. They had a few minutes at most. 

He returned to Nico’s side. He twisted open the Gatorade bottle, and lifted Nico’s head with one hand. With the other, he gently tilted the yellow liquid into Nico’s lips. “Come on, Nico, rise and shine!” He teased. 

Nico sipped slowly and started coughing. His eyes fluttered open, and quickly resumed their irritated look. He directed this not-so-withering gaze at Will. “Yellow?”

Will balked. “We’re all out of orange and red. I’ll restock tomorrow, promise.”

Nico stuck out his tongue. “Disgusting.” He then seemed to think better of it. “Give it to me.” He reached for the bottle, taking a long swing before setting it down beside him. He rubbed at his eyes. “We should get back out there.”

Will nodded. “Or at least get out of here. Better to have eyes on the thing.” He leaned slightly out of his chair to glance out the window, but the giant statue was out of sight. 

Will turned back to face him, and Nico sighed. “Can you stand?” Will asked, reaching his arms out to help him. 

Nico twisted on the bed, reaching toward Will as fast as the automaton had swept him off his feet. His lips crashed into Will’s, his hands reaching up to cup the boy’s face. Will moaned softly, a sound that he would later be endlessly teased for. For now, however, he was breathless in Nico’s grasp. Seconds later, Nico drew back, trying not to convey how much the action had made his head spin. Perhaps he should have taken it easy after the shadow-travelling. 

Will stared at Nico, his eyes and smile wide. He looked like he was considering leaning in for another round, but Nico rose to his feet. “Let’s go,” he grabbed Will’s arm, and led him out of the infirmary.


End file.
